Guest, Season 15, Theory and Technique

15.46: Crafting Chinese-American Characters

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Your Hosts: Dan, Piper, and Tempest, with special guest Yang Yang Wang

Yang Yang Wang, an author, actor, and director (among many other things) joins us for a discussion of language, food, and a whole raft of other cultural elements critical to crafting Chinese-American characters.

Credits: this episode was recorded by Ross Smith and mastered by Alex Jackson

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Take a culture, and a character who is a descendent of immigrants from that culture, then write a scene where that character returns to the original culture

All Systems Red, by Martha Wells

Guest, Season 15, Theory and Technique

15.45: Worldbuilding Fantasy, with Patrick Rothfuss

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Your Hosts: Dan, Mary Robinette, and Howard, with Patrick Rothfuss

Pat joins us for a discussion of worldbuilding, in which we field a couple of challenging questions from readers. Here are the questions!

  • How do you create timeless urban fantasy?
  • How do you create a compelling secondary world fantasy without leaning on a complex magic system?

We ran a bit long with this one, but we have no regrets. Because compelling. And maybe timeless.

Credits: This episode was recorded by Bert Grimm, and mastered by Alex Jackson

 

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Just change one thing, and then follow the permutations.

Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

Career and Lifestyle, Season 15

15.44: Rebooting a Career

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Your Hosts: Dan, Dongwon, Mary Robinette, and Howard

What do you do when some of the key foundations of your authorial (or otherwise creative) livelihood are kicked away? How do you go about repairing, rebuilding, or rebooting your career?

Credits: This episode was recorded by Bert Grimm, and mastered by Alex Jackson

 

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Write a letter to your hero. Write their response to you.

Leviathan Wakes, by James S.A. Corey (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck)

Guest, Season 15, Theory and Technique

15.43: Audiobook Narration, with Bruce D Richardson

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Your Hosts: Brandon, Dan, Mary Robinette, and Howard, with special guest Bruce D Richardson

Bruce D Richardson, who is often credited as BDR, or BD Richardson, is a voice-over actor and audiobook narrator. He joins us for a discussion of reading out loud for an audience, including some mic techniques and best practices for recording.

Liner Notes:
https://www.accenthelp.com/
“I never said she stole my money.”

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Read something out loud, for an hour, in a genre you do not like.

Dragon Planet, by Dan Wells

Season 15, Theory and Technique

15.42: Writing The End

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Your Hosts: Brandon, Victoria, Dan, and Howard

How do you decide what sort of event ends your story? How do you set the scale and the stakes for that event? And once you’ve made these decisions, how do you set about writing the best possible ending?

Credits: This episode was recorded by Dan Thompson, and mastered by Alex Jackson

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Reversal of Fortune

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, by VE Schwab

Guest, Season 15, Theory and Technique

15.41: Researching the FCK out of Things, with Cory Doctorow

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Your Hosts: Mary Robinette, Piper, and Howard, with special guest Cory Doctorow

In journalism, that three-character string in our episode title means “Fact Check.” Those three characters are a great way to drop a note to yourself, reminding you to get some answers later.

In this episode Cory joins us to discuss when we drop FCK into our works, and how we go about removing it later.

Credits: This episode was recorded at sea by Bert Grimm, and mastered by Alex Jackson

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Use the Internet to pretend-visit a place.

The Future of Another Timeline, by Annalee Newitz

Guest, Season 15, Theory and Technique

15.40: Researching for Writing the Other

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Your Hosts: Piper, Dan, and Tempest, with special guests Nisi Shawl and Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Writing stories which feature people who are not like you is, in a word, difficult. In another word? Fraught. But good writers do difficult things, and in this episode Nisi Shawl and Silvia Moreno-Garcia join us to discuss how research can make “writing the other” less difficult, and perhaps even less fraught.

Credits: This episode was recorded by Ross Smith, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

 

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Find news article or clipping from before 1980 as part of your research into something that interests you.

Gods of Jade and Shadow, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Career and Lifestyle, Guest, Season 15, Theory and Technique

15.39: Translation, with special guest Alex Shvartsman

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Your Hosts: Mary Robinette, Dan, and Lari, with guest Alex Shvartsman

Translation is fantastically complex. In this episode Lari and Alex help us navigate those complexities, both from the standpoint of the translator, and from the standpoint of the author seeking to have their work translated.

Credits: This episode was mastered by Alex Jackson

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Write a story in which the characters are in trouble because of a linguistic misunderstanding.

“The Green Hills of Dmitry Totzkiy,” by Eldar Safin, (English translation by Alex Shvartsman)